Halifax

HEROES & VILLAINS

Palestinian Resistance, Stephen Harper & the Middle East

6:00pm
- 8:00pm
Thursday January 30 2014

HEROES & VILLAINS

Palestinian Resistance, Stephen Harper & the Middle East

Join in the discussion led by:

Dr. Ismail Zayid — Canada Palestine Association

and Gary Zatzman — Co-Editor, Dossier on Palestine

The organizers of this winter’s “Heroes and Villains” event warmly invite you to join the discussion of the Palestinian national cause and the role of Canada-Israel relations at JustUs Coffeehouse on Thursday Jan. 30 at 6 pm. Organized by No Harbour For War! Co-sponsors include: Canada-Palestine Association, Dossier on Palestine Collective. 

The people of Canada and Quebec in their hundreds of thousands have repeatedly opposed the pro-Zionist course of Canadian governments led by Stephen Harper.

For the last 9 months, under the guise of seeking a peace accord with the Palestinian National Authority with the Washington authority as "honest broker", the Tel Aviv authority has announced and opened tenders on plans to construct thousands more settlement units throughout the occupied West Bank in batches of hundreds at a time. As part of this, thousands of dunums of Palestinian-owned land become annexed, entirely illegally, to the State of Israel.

All such schemes to settle Israelis on occupied territory are brazen violations of provisions of international humanitarian law set out in the 4th Geneva Conventions of 1949. Governments across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas have repeatedly and universally condemned these acts of colonization.  In effect, all post-1967 colonization of the West Bank and other Arab lands extends the original zionist act of land theft first recognized as the "State of Israel" back in 1948. Nevertheless, no action has been taken at any governmental level to directly impede this drive.  

Meanwhile, Tel Aviv has taken the Palestinian people hostage. But the Palestinians’ will to return to their lands and to the map of the world remains indomitable. They continue denying their oppressor any peace  in which to continue this criminal course. This won the admiration and support of the world’s people, throughout a period in world history in which the conditions enabling continuation of the zionist course depended crucially on unconditional backing of the United States, Israel’s chief financier and weapons supplier. Meanwhile, however, Washington’s backing of Israel became itself ever more challenged around the globe. When Stephen Harper became Prime Minister 8 years ago, Canada was quick to step into the breach.

The especially reactionary quality of Canadian minority and majority governments’  hostility since 2006 to acknowledging any rights for Arab peoples has been seen in Ottawa’s  endorsement of Israeli aggression against Lebanon in July 2006, in the support given to  Israeli bombing of the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead in December 2008-January 2009, and its massive diplomatic interference at the UN General Assembly Session of September-November 2012 against the Palestinian delegation’s successful campaign (by a 139 to 8 margin) to win recognition as a non-member state.

This month Harper makes his first official visit to Israel as Canadian government leader. Last fall, Tel Aviv honoured Harper personally for his services by naming a bird sanctuary after him. This sanctuary is located less than 5 miles from the Golan Heights. This piece of Syrian territory has been occupied by Israel since 1967 with a UN force comprising armed personnel from various countries that includes a more or less permanent Canadian military contingent.

No Harbour For War joins other progressive Canadians demanding justice for the Palestinian people. A just settlement of the Palestinian question is a fundamental requirement of any plan for lasting peace and indefinite postponement of the launch of another war.

For further information: noharbourforwar@hotmail.com

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